Hi Rakesh,
nice to have you back. I read your mails with great interest. To your question: Marx and Engels (and Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg) use the idea of invisible hand in many ways in their explanation of market relations. often in a descriptive and sometimes in a critical sense. Engels uses it also in a positive, that is, in a normative sense to explain that individuals plans to manage their everydays lives end always somewhere else than planed.
Best,
Dogan
-----Ursprüngliche Mitteilung-----
Von: bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU
An: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU
Verschickt: So., 4.Feb.2007, 17:26
Thema: [OPE-L] Marx's 3 invisible hands
Just a quick question about the invisible hand to Dogan and others
How many are there in Marx? I know that 2 was mentioned in the discussion;
don't remember 1 and 3.
1.Through competitive self interest the capitalists as a whole reduce the
unit value
of wage goods and thereby allow for the 'beneficient' result of rising
relative surplus value.
2. Through attempts to earn extra surplus value capitalists create over
time a pattern
of a falling profit rate and a general crisis--a malignant invisible hand.
3. In the pursuit of profit capitalists MUST create as if led by invisible
hand the possibility
and necessity a higher mode of production, though it can be achieved only
through
the visible hand of class struggle!
I know that Dogan has had an interesting discussion with others about
Marx's understanding
of unintended consequences and invisible hand.
I was wondering whether other invisible hand arguments were mentioned.
To Paulo, I am thinking about your very interesting response.
Rakesh